It Was Worth It

Why You Should Become a Credentialed Collaborative Professional

I’m sure many collaborative professionals have wondered--like I did--whether getting the collaborative credential would be worth the effort.  Collaborative Divorce Texas credentials aren’t pay-to-play like so many awards these days.  You have to earn it, and it takes time and diligence.   

What do we all want?  More collaborative cases!  While I can’t prove the increase in my collaborative cases is due to credentialing, I believe it to be true.  I ask new clients how they found me and how they learned about collaborative divorce.  Clients who have done online research have specifically mentioned the credential, and many say I looked well qualified.  I experienced an increase in cases from becoming credentialed and a further increase with the master credential.  

The collaborative credentials are designed to show training, case experience, service to the collaborative community, and positive peer review.  In order to evaluate these aspects, the application process is involved and can’t be completed in a weekend.  If you’re considering becoming credentialed, I suggest you read the requirements and make a plan.  If you’re an active collaborative professional, you may already have accumulated much of what you’ll need even before you start the application process.  

There are things you can do in advance to make the process easier.  For example, plan the trainings and the collaborative conferences you’ll need to attend.  When you start a collaborative case, make a copy of the collaborative family law participation agreement and the first page of the divorce petition or other relevant document.  Put these in a credentialing file or scan them and put them in an electronic file.  Find out which collaborative family law participation agreements are missing from your files and contact your friends for copies.  This all takes time, and the sooner you start, the better.

I saved copies of the case information for the eight cases I used from my first credentialing and used them again as part of the fifty cases for the master credential.  This is a helpful shortcut.  

The bottom line is the credential delivers what the smart people who dreamed it up had in mind.  I highly recommend you plan your path to the collaborative credential and get started today.